Thanks for your feedback! I feel like what I'm hearing from others is beneficial, especially in learning the question style. Our professors say that our exams are written in the style board questions will be presented, but I feel like taking a course may help me to really see if that's true. You can never practice too much!

Did any of you take a review course when preparing for boards? Did you feel it was worth it? Which did you take? I go to a reputable University, but I am curious. More specifically, I'm in an acute care program.

Thank you for moving, but I posted this where I did intentionally. My post is directed toward current NPs, not students. I know that some NPs do read the student forums, but most of the responses are written by current students.

I have one more semester left in an MSN-AGACNP program and was thinking about review courses. If anyone here has done one, which did you do? Did you think it was worth it? I also considered just buying the online disc review rather than going to a live review, and doing that over the summer some, since I'm out of clinical then.

As far as how your peers will view you when you graduate, that will vary. This is a topic that gets brought up a lot. My networking with NPs has greatly increased while in clinical, and I have found that many of them, although not all, have the opinion that NPs should have nursing experience prior to program acceptance. Some feel it's a "different enough" role, that it shouldn't really matter.

I will say that I feel like my nursing experience has been invaluable and helped me tremendously in school. I have learned SO much in the "real world" of nursing. I couldn't fathom becoming an NP without it. For me personally, I also wanted experience in a field before I decided whether I wanted to pursue an advanced degree in it, even though I started my ADN program knowing I wanted to eventually become an NP.

With all of that being said, it's still something that everyone has to decide for themselves. You aren't destined to fail because you lack bedside experience. A lot of it is what you make it. Not only that, but, assuming you are planning to work while in school, you'll have a few years under your belt before you graduate. If you feel you are ready to go through with school, go for it! In any reputable program, I feel like most people know soon enough whether they are cut out for it.

You definitely aren't alone. I have one more semester after I finish this one, and I feel the same way! It seems like most of my classmates do, as well. I do 3 12s a week(nights) for work and 20 hours of days for clinical. The rotating back and forth alone is enough to make you feel like a zombie!

I attend the University of South Carolina. They do have a coordinator now that helps with setting up clinical sites. I haven't interacted with her, as I found all of mine and had them laid out before she was hired on. I've heard good things though. I'm not sure if that's a school that would be feasible for you or not. I have really enjoyed the program, and have one semester to go after I finish this one.

The part that worries me about your working schedule is clinical. I think the coursework would be able to be done with your working schedule, but in all of the clinical semesters except one, you will have at least two days of clinical a week, if not more. So having only one weekday available for clinical would make that impossible to fit in if you have to do 4 weekdays of work. If you had the option of working some on weekends, I think it would make it more realistic! The summer semester is 10 weeks and the regular semesters are 15. I would talk to an advisor and see what they recommend, as well as ask them how part-time works if you're willing to consider that. I'm not sure how clinicals work in PT study because I'm doing FT.

For acute care, you have one preceptor a semester. You are not allowed to go to the same preceptor/group/specialty again after your initial semester with them because the school wants you exposed to variety. The first semester is internal medicine(outpatient or inpatient), and the following semesters can be inpatient internal med or a specialty. I did internal med my first clinical and am with cardiology my second.

Yes, I feel like all of the professors have wanted students to succeed! They have been very professional and helpful. I feel like they expect graduate level maturity and effort, but they are supportive. I like the formats of the classes. They have all been with lectures and PowerPoints available to match the lectures(plus add extra in the lectures), so I feel like I'm sitting in class.

It honestly depends on the week and what's going on for how much I put in, but I would say maybe a very minimum of 10ish hours a class to include your lectures, reading, etc. Full-time in the program is usually 3 classes or so a semester.

The work for grading consists of exams, papers, discussion boards, a lot of case studies, and projects. For clinicals, you have to submit clinical logs on each patient. Are you local to SC? The first clinical semester also has in-person checkoffs you have to complete. One is absolutely mandatory to be done in person and the others can be done by video. I've been told the other clinical semesters have them too, but I'm not sure yet how many.

By getting one day off a week, do you mean you have to work 4 weekdays every week?

I am in a program at this school now and am attending full-time and working full-time. It really depends on how you are able to manage time, stress, and other factors in your life. I'm in my third semester now and started clinicals in my second.

Is this AG acute? If so, then yes, I am in my third semester of the program. I have been working and doing school both full-time. For me, FT work hours is 3 12s a week, and I work night shift.

The number of clinical hours varies depending on which course it is. My first clinical had 98 as a requirement, which averages out to around 8 a week over the traditional semester, or 12 a week for summer semester. My next clinical is 230 hours. You are not allowed to condense clinical, so you must go each week during the semester(with the exception of breaks like Spring break-it's your call then), and you aren't allowed to do weekend clinical, or primarily night shift. The school feels like this doesn't allow for the best experience with routine daily management of patients.